AL DIVISION SERIES: ATHLETICS v YANKEES

October 11, 2001

Jason Isringhausen

JASON ISRINGHAUSEN: He came up to me and we were just in between first base and the pitcher's mound and he asked me to just relax, be yourself and have fun. I told him I couldn't feel my legs. That was the only thing. That made us both kind of laugh. In this kind of atmosphere, it's a little nerve racking.

JASON ISRINGHAUSEN: Yeah, I feel much better now after it's all said and done.

JASON ISRINGHAUSEN: I've been here before with one-run lead and came out after two pitches. It's been a little nerve-wracking for me here in this stadium but in the playoffs, it's just total adrenaline. For me, the type of pitcher I am, I just rear back and throw it as hard as I can and hopefully get good results. I got lucky with a couple pop outs and made a good pitch to Posada and that's it.

JASON ISRINGHAUSEN: Art came out and said he didn't know if the guy was going to bunt, but if he did, it's just get an out. After that, we were hoping that he would bunt, but in the same sense I'm glad he didn't because it takes the double play out of effect. Art said if he didn't bunt, just go for a double play.

JASON ISRINGHAUSEN: In the past I've thrown him a lot of curveballs. I threw him one for a swinging strike. He took the pitch; I think he was expecting one. I guess we made the right call on that pitch.

JASON ISRINGHAUSEN: In the same sense, plus we would have got on out. Had not had an out before then. We were looking to get an out one way or the other. If a bunt was going to be it, so be it and we would work from there. As I said, I was lucky enough to make a good pitch on Posada and get him out.

JASON ISRINGHAUSEN: With the start that we had, the 8-18 start for the first month, we had to rise up to become another team after that. We came back and were able to get over one hundred wins. We were on a high coming in, up to was very gratifying, but in the same sense we know who we are playing when we go back home and we have to play some good baseball.

JASON ISRINGHAUSEN: As a team, right?

JASON ISRINGHAUSEN: We knew it was going to be a pitchers battle, with the starting pitching we had going for both teams. We were able to squeak out just enough runs to get by. Our two, Mulder and Hudson came out big with both games and our bullpen was able to hold the lead and other than that, we were just fortunate enough to have a couple more runs than them each game.